FM26 - ManagerPortrait Plugin

this available for mac?

This is in the description.

As this runs via BepInEx, only Windows is supported. This may work via Crossover on macOS but this is not tested.

Excellent work Matt / AdamB 

Amazing!

Works well, many thanks.  I have been waiting for this mod :-)

This is brilliant. If you've grown attached to how your manager looks and want to use a photo that looks like him, rather than adding your own real-life image, you can use this AI prompt (attach a screenshot of your existing manager generated image from FM26) to produce a photo of what your in-game manager might look like if he was real (and then use something like remove.bg to cut him out):

Use the uploaded image as the ONLY identity and likeness reference. Do not invent a new face. Stay anchored to the uploaded reference image and treat it as a low-quality scan of the same person, not as loose inspiration.

Create a highly photorealistic head-and-shoulders portrait of a real human who plausibly matches the person shown in the reference image. The reference is a low-resolution, computer-generated face from a poorly made football management game, so do not copy its artificial textures, rendering artefacts, or game-like features literally. Instead, interpret it as a rough facial guide and translate it into a believable real-life person.

The output should look like a professional modern portrait photograph, not digital art, not a painting, not CGI, not a game render.

Important goal:

Preserve the overall resemblance and "feel" of the face from the reference image while improving it into a realistic human portrait. Keep the same apparent sex, approximate age, hairstyle, face shape, skin tone range, brow shape, eye spacing, nose structure, mouth shape, jawline, chin proportions, and general facial proportions as closely as possible. The likeness should feel like a realistic version of the uploaded character, not a different person.

Facial interpretation guidance:
- Hairstyle exact as the reference image
- Adult male, approximately 30s to early 40s
- Neutral to slightly serious expression
- Direct eye contact with camera
- Natural asymmetry in the face
- Realistic pores, skin texture, subtle under-eye detail, natural lips, realistic ears, believable scalp texture
- Refine the eyes, nose, and mouth into anatomically correct real features while keeping their relative placement and proportions consistent with the reference
- Keep the face broadness, cheek structure, and jaw/chin balance similar to the source
- Do not beautify excessively
- Do not make him look like a model or celebrity
- Do not make him too old, too young, too muscular, or too polished
- Keep him believable as an ordinary real person

Photography and composition:
- Tight head-and-shoulders portrait
- Frontal or very slight three-quarter angle only if it helps realism, but stay close to the original orientation
- Centre composition
- Studio-quality portrait photo
- Neutral dark grey, charcoal, or softly blurred plain background
- Soft cinematic portrait lighting, balanced and flattering but realistic
- Sharp focus on eyes and face
- 85mm lens look
- Shallow depth of field
- High detail skin
- Natural colour grading
- Subtle contrast
- Realistic photographic dynamic range

Realism requirements:
- The image must read as a genuine photograph of a real person
- No game-engine look
- No plastic skin
- No airbrushed beauty retouching
- No uncanny facial proportions
- No exaggerated masculinity
- No fantasy or stylised elements
- No visible artefacts from the original game image
- No warped ears, broken eyes, melted features, duplicated features, or strange hairline artefacts

What to preserve from the reference:
Preserve the core identity cues visible in the uploaded portrait, especially:
- hair style

- head shape
- general face width and skull shape
- eye placement and brow set
- nose length and width
- mouth width and lip shape
- chin and jaw structure
- skin tone family
- overall stern, plain, grounded look

What to improve:
- replace low-quality CGI textures with real skin
- replace synthetic game lighting with realistic studio lighting
- correct any awkward game-model anatomy into believable human anatomy
- add realistic detail to pores, eyelids, lashes, lips, ears, neck, and scalp
- make the result look like a high-resolution real photo taken with a professional camera

Final output:
A realistic photographic portrait of a normal adult man who clearly resembles the uploaded game-generated face, as if the fictional in-game character had been recreated as a real human and professionally photographed.

This is really a deal breaker

big thanks

can you be more specific with the file destination? “game folder” can be more than one place 🙂 

Please somebody figure this out on mac. Please 😔

Wherever you have the game installed to.

Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 26 for example.

this hasnt seemed to work for me and i have followed the steps? any help?

I think i'm thick as i can't get it to work 😢 I need a YouTube video for Dummy's

i have tried to install etc and it has not worked how did you mange to get to work 

Top… 5 stars.. work's perfectly.. 

Works like a bomb!

Wonderful, many thanks to make this come true.

I think this must be an FM 26 Essential >> https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-2026/essentials

vidéo tuto s'il vous plaît

where would i put this for the xbox gamepass pc version? tried putting it in xbox games / football manager 26 and it doesnt seem to work.

hi iv just downloaded and put it into my games folder and it was scanning then suddenly  i had about 7-8 errors in yellow writing come up on it have i done anything wrong or is it just the plugin itself 

Should be there, wherever your fm.exe is located.

These are fine.

brilliant thanks for the reply and awesomevwork. 

Great work!

Könnte bitte mal jemand eine Anleitung dafür machen? Es funktioniert irgendwie nicht.

Can I select my own real photo or not 

No matter what I do, it's not working. The bepinex folder was created in my game files, but even though I copied and pasted all the files into it according to the full version, saving both the in-game id.png and manager.png files, I still can't get the head shown in the example image to appear in the game. Where could I be going wrong? Please help.

This is fire <3 Thanks Matt

yes, just name it “manager”

Does BepInEx open when you start the game?

"game folder" should be your installation folder, not your user data. eg. Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Football Manager 26
(I will add this to the description to make this clearer).

really good. thanks a lot